In an age of treachery and turmoil, brutal murder brings the ultimate test of faith ... "A first-rate murder mystery" Independent on Sunday "Shardlake is a character to treasure" Sunday Times "Terrific. Historical fiction at its finest" Peter Robinson Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church and the country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers ever seen. Under the order of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent through the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: the monasteries are to be dissolved. But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's Commissioner Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege - a black cockerel sacrificed on the alter, and the disappearance of Scarnsea's Great Relic. Dr Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell into this atmosphere of treachery and death. But Shardlake's investigation soon forces him to question everything he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes ... Dissolution is the first in the phenomenal Shardlake series by bestselling author C. J. Sansom, followed by Dark Fire, Sovereign, Revelation, Heartstone and Lamentation.

Against the backdrop of one of the great transformations of our century, the sudden and unexpected fall of communism as a ruling system, Charles Maier recounts the history and demise of East Germany. Dissolution is his poignant, analytically provocative account of the decline and fall of the late German Democratic Republic. This book explains the powerful causes for the disintegration of German communism as it constructs the complex history of the GDR. Maier looks at the turning points in East Germany's forty-year history and at the mix of coercion and consent by which the regime functioned. He analyzes the GDR as it evolved from the purges of the 1950s to the peace movements and emerging youth culture of the 1980s, and then turns his attention to charges of Stasi collaboration that surfaced after 1989. In the context of describing the larger collapse of communism, Maier analyzes German elements that had counterparts throughout the Soviet bloc, including its systemic and eventually terminal economic crisis, corruption and privilege in the SED, the influence of the Stasi and the plight of intellectuals and writers, and the slow loss of confidence on the part of the ruling elite. He then discusses the mass protests and proliferation of dissident groups in 1989, the collapse of the ruling party, and the troubled aftermath of unification. Dissolution is the first book that spans the communist collapse and the ensuing process of unification, and that draws on newly available archival documents from the last phases of the GDR, including Stasi reports, transcripts of Politburo and Central Committee debates, and papers from the Economic Planning Commission, the Council of Ministers, and the office files of key party officials. This book is further bolstered by Maier's extensive knowledge of European history and the Cold War, his personal observations and conversations with East Germans during the country's dramatic transition, and memoirs and other eyewitness accounts published during the four-decade history of the GDR.

Dissolution is a new word for divorce. In Dissolution, Riane Eisler discusses the fundamental societal and litigious changes of divorce from an action that was until recently an unacceptable social phenomenon to what is now commonplace. The book compares the old divorce laws based on marital fault with new "no-fault" divorce laws, an analysis of the laws and institutions of marriage and divorce, and alternatives (social and litigious) to marriage and divorce. Quotes about Dissolution: "Dissolution is must reading for every woman...whether she already believes in equal rights for all beings or belongs to the Phyllis Schlafly school of thought. Riane Eisler's work is the most definitive yet on the female species and her rights." – Rona Barrett, Good Morning America, ABC-TV "Only those of us who have gone through divorce without your book can fully appreciate its value. Its factual information gives strength. Its innate empathy comforts. Its totality is an integral part of the body of great feminist writings." – Frances Lear, President, Lear Purvis Walker & Co.

In December 1991, the Soviet Union passed into history as a legal entity, breaking apart into 15 successor states. This clear and convincing book explains why. It emphasizes the critical role of Soviet ethno-federalism, as well as the normative claims and legitimizing myths of Soviet nationality policy. Institutional constraints and legitimizing myths, Walker argues, empowered the anti-union opposition even in republics where it had limited popular support. He also shows how they helped bring about an outcome-the full dissolution of the USSR-that surprisingly few desired.

The War of the Spider Queen begins here. While their whole world is changing around them, four dark elves struggle against different enemies. Yet their paths will lead them all to the most terrifying discovery in the long history of the drow and set them on a quest to save not only Menzoberranzan but the entire dark elf race from Dissolution...

Excerpt from State Sovereignty, and a Certain Dissolution of the Union On the face of the matter, the Vice President is now drawn out by the request of Governor Hamilton of South Carolina, - who has been trans formed, in a few short months, from a private soldier of the militia to a Mo. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The 1st instalment in the wildly popular Matthew Shardlake mystery series, now available from Vintage Canada. It is 1537, a time of revolution that sees the greatest changes in England since 1066. Henry VIII has proclaimed himself Supreme Head of the Church. The country is waking up to savage new laws, rigged trials and the greatest network of informers it has ever seen. And under the orders of Thomas Cromwell, a team of commissioners is sent throughout the country to investigate the monasteries. There can only be one outcome: dissolution. But on the Sussex coast, at the monastery of Scarnsea, events have spiralled out of control. Cromwell's commissioner, Robin Singleton, has been found dead, his head severed from his body. His horrific murder is accompanied by equally sinister acts of sacrilege. Matthew Shardlake, lawyer and long-time supporter of Reform, has been sent by Cromwell to uncover the truth behind the dark happenings at Scarnsea. But investigation soon forces Shardlake to question everything that he hears, and everything that he intrinsically believes...

As the new Confederacy's provisional president, Jefferson Davis has a difficult task before him. For starters he must appoint a Cabinet, open communications with Washington and Europe, find a means to fund his treasury, purchase arms and ammunition, and create an army. To make matters more difficult, Davis' sphinx-like demeanor in the face of criticisma stony faade that attempts to conceal his broiling emotions, often causing him to hold a grudge or stubbornly support a friendtends to antagonize his old enemies and create new ones. However, he does manage to gain some allies. Judah Benjamin, his Attorney General, who, in spite of his attraction to the First Lady, says about the President, "I would follow him to Hell." Mary Chestnut, who initially befriends Varina Davis to further her husband's career, develops a warm relationship with the First Family. Mallory, the Secretary of Navy, and Reagon, the Postmaster General, will remain with him until the end. When Varina travels to Montgomery, Alabama, she takes with her, along with her other slaves, Rachel, who, as a result, is separated from her boyfriend, Silas. The servant girl had told Silas that she wouldn't be forced to leave if he married her, but the boy still clung to he dream of escaping to freedom. Once away from Davis' plantation, Rachel becomes involved with Colonel Chestnut's body servant, Lawrence, unaware that the handsome slave has become ensnared in the network of spies surrounding the First Family. All of these peoplepoliticians, soldiers, slaves, and spiesare bound together willy-nilly in an enterprise that will explode at Manassas Junction, ripping their country apart and changing their lives forever.

What happens when a State, with its own legal system, replaces another State and its legal system in a given territory? Such a disturbing event has consequences for the State involved, but also for the people living in the affected State, both in terms of their day-to-day lives and legal relationships and in terms of the general balance of power in the region. This compendium broadly covers the consequences of State succession in the arenas of public international law, private international law, and international relations, addressing a wide range of concerns: - currency; - debt; - international commercial arbitration; - nationality; and - European security. The unifying thread amid these diverse topics is State succession, the circumstance in which these problems have arisen. This work consists of a selection of articles previously published in French under the auspices of the CEDIN (Centre de droit international) at Paris I, Paris X and Paris XIII. "Dissolution, Continuation and Succession in Eastern Europe" contributes to a better knowledge of several issues of State succession, raising awareness and provoking thought on several intriguing theoretical problems.

Michael Lent asks what role art has in colonisation and subsequent dissolution. He proposes a practice informed by the fatal strategies and 'raw' phenomenology of Jean Baudrillard as a challenge to a system of disappearance. Focusing on the otherness of space to prevent its ultimate dissolution, Lent promotes a spatial practice of radical alterity. Examining ideas of disappearance put forth by Baudrillard and Paul Virilio, he utilises art as a means for investigating loss of potentiality and experience through the representation of space, shifting their ideas - originally ascribed to objects - into a new emphasis. This book ultimately attempts to break a cyclical system that causes everything to disappear into representation and equivalency.